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Legislation targets people convicted of animal cruelty
By Sharon L. Peters Special for, USA TODAY
A bill to establish a publicly accessible statewide registry of people convicted of felony cruelty to animals, introduced Monday in California, would, if passed, be the nation's first such registry. And proponents hope it will spawn similar legislation in more states.
To capitalize on the buzz surrounding the California bill, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has launched a website — exposeanimalabusers.org — with data and model legislation to prompt grass-roots efforts to get more animal-abuser registry laws passed.
"The idea is to protect a vulnerable population at risk of abuse," much as sex offender registries warn communities of sexual predators in the area, so the public, shelters and law enforcement can work together to keep animals safer, the fund's Stephan Otto says.
Bills similar to the one in California have been proposed in Rhode Island, Colorado and Tennessee, though none became law. But this year there's confidence about passage, partly because it's favored by California's Senate majority leader, Dean Florez, and because "this is an example of law catching up with society's values," Otto says.
"Cruelty against animals is happening every hour of every day," says Joyce Tischler, the fund's co-founder. Studies link such abuse with violence against humans, so monitoring animal abusers can be vital to public safety, she says.
Still, such registries aren't universally applauded. Opponents have many concerns, says Randall Lockwood, a cruelty expert at the ASPCA. Among them: Is it fair to offenders who have served their sentences to wear a life-long label? Will offenders plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid registry inclusion?
"An upside is that a registry enlists the public in the monitoring process," he says. But many worry "a spirit of public vigilantism" could arise, prompting people to "take revenge on an offender who in their minds has not been suitably punished by the legal system."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/pets/2010-02-24-abuse24_ST_N.htm
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